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How the US has hidden its empire
41–50 of 106 posts
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#42Wait - so the special relationship with the Philippines then ... which was in mostly fairly autonomous?
... that's the big ole' 'Empire'?
... and a few mostly unpopulated dots in the Ocean?
Oh, so scary! The power!
And to consider that Filipinos, who are culturally distinct from Americans in every way, and who have almost nothing in common with Americans but a temporary geopolitical alignment should be considered 'Americans' in the same way as those from New Orleans and NYC?
So that's 2018 intersectionalist history?
Rubbish.
America is quite fundamentally distinct from the Philippines and always has been, there's no fundamental reason that most Americans on the street should care enough to 'go to war' over foreign interdiction.
Going to war for those with whom the US has a special arrangement, and going to war for the 'homeland' are indeed quite different questions.
There's no 'hiding' here.
Thanks for the history tidbits Graun, but as usually the headline is ridiculous.
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#43"Contrary to popular memory, the event familiarly known as “Pearl Harbor” was in fact an all-out lightning strike on US and British holdings throughout the Pacific. On a single day, the Japanese attacked the US territories of Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, Midway Island and Wake Island." This is horrendously sloppy journalism. The first attack on Wake was three days later and was repelled. The successful attack was a…
Wikipedia disagrees with you, and confirms that both Midway and Wake were attacked on the day of Pearl. In the case of Wake, 8 of the 12 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters were destroyed. In the case of Midway, the attack that day was repulsed.
Let's not forget Malaya (as it was then known) and Hong Kong, too.
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#44> Besides Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and a handful of minor outlying islands, the US maintains roughly 800 overseas military bases around the world. Germany has a few US military bases. It’s a bit of a micro cosmos. People pay in USD and can buy American products there. I think even the VAT is added on checkout to the price (whereas in Germany, prices in sto…
>>I think even the VAT is added on checkout to the price (whereas in Germany, prices in stores always show VAT included).
How is that legal? By law the price shown has to include VAT. Unless somehow the American base is not considered German territory?
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#45US citizenship and American Samoa will become an interesting topic if Tulsi Gabbard becomes a frontrunner as a presidential candidate. To become POTUS you need to be "native born" US Citizen which is a very nebulous idea.
It won't be an issue. Her mother was born in Indiana so Tulsi is a natural born US citizen. Just like Ted Cruz who was born in Canada.
It would likely be an issue for our president, who had the same issue with his predecessor.
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#46> Besides Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and a handful of minor outlying islands, the US maintains roughly 800 overseas military bases around the world. Germany has a few US military bases. It’s a bit of a micro cosmos. People pay in USD and can buy American products there. I think even the VAT is added on checkout to the price (whereas in Germany, prices in sto…
In the 90s my sister was friends with a US soldier in Stuttgart so I got visit that environment quite a bit. It felt like a different world. Even the street layout of the areas where they lived were more like an American suburb than a German one.
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#47Wait - so the special relationship with the Philippines then ... which was in mostly fairly autonomous? ... that's the big ole' 'Empire'? ... and a few mostly unpopulated dots in the Ocean? Oh, so scary! The power! And to consider that Filipinos, who are culturally distinct from Americans in every way, and who have almost nothing in common with Americans but a temporary geopolitical alignment should be considered 'Am…
I don't think this article characterizes the relationship with the Philippines accurately at all. No mention of Japan's horrific occupation that the Americans fought with the Filipinos to expel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines_Campaign_(1944%E2%...
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#48US citizenship and American Samoa will become an interesting topic if Tulsi Gabbard becomes a frontrunner as a presidential candidate. To become POTUS you need to be "native born" US Citizen which is a very nebulous idea.
It won't be an issue. Her mother was born in Indiana so Tulsi is a natural born US citizen. Just like Ted Cruz who was born in Canada.
I am sure this will be an issue with a lot of super partisans. My neighbor still believes that Obama was not eligible for being president. I have no idea what evidence could convince these people otherwise.
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#49> Besides Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and a handful of minor outlying islands, the US maintains roughly 800 overseas military bases around the world. Germany has a few US military bases. It’s a bit of a micro cosmos. People pay in USD and can buy American products there. I think even the VAT is added on checkout to the price (whereas in Germany, prices in sto…
>>I think even the VAT is added on checkout to the price (whereas in Germany, prices in stores always show VAT included). How is that legal? By law the price shown has to include VAT. Unless somehow the American base is not considered German territory?
As a general matter of policy, I believe US embassies and military bases are considered US soil.
Re: How the US has hidden its empire
#50> Besides Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and a handful of minor outlying islands, the US maintains roughly 800 overseas military bases around the world. Germany has a few US military bases. It’s a bit of a micro cosmos. People pay in USD and can buy American products there. I think even the VAT is added on checkout to the price (whereas in Germany, prices in sto…
>>I think even the VAT is added on checkout to the price (whereas in Germany, prices in stores always show VAT included). How is that legal? By law the price shown has to include VAT. Unless somehow the American base is not considered German territory?
The military has a special deal with the German government that sets out exactly how everything works. It is called a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).